TCM Schedule for Friday, August 30, 2013 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Kirk Douglas

[Staph]

Yesterday was one of the lesser known stars, Glenda Farrell; today is one of the biggest and best. Kirk Douglas, born Issur Danielovitch Demsky on December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York, has three Oscar nominations and one honorary Oscar, "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community". Douglas has long been involved in humanitarian causes and has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the US State Department since 1963. His efforts were rewarded in 1981 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 1983 with the Jefferson Award. Furthermore, the French honored him with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. More recognition followed for his work with the American Cinema Award (1987), the German Golden Kamera Award (1987), The National Board of Reviews Career Achievement Award (1989), an honorary Academy Award (1995), Recipient of the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999) and the UCLA Medal of Honor (2002). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Out of the Past (1947)
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll.
Dir: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas
BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC,

After Humphrey Bogart refused the lead it was offered to John Garfield and then Dick Powell, both of whom turned it down. Robert Mitchum was fourth choice.


8:00 AM -- Young Man With a Horn (1950)
A young trumpet player is torn between an honest singer and a manipulative heiress.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day
BW-112 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Features one of the earliest references to homosexuality. The character of Amy played by Lauren Bacall is suppose to be a lesbian, which is why Rick, played by Kirk Douglas, walks out on her telling her that she is "a very sick girl".


10:00 AM -- The Big Trees (1952)
An unscrupulous lumber baron has to join forces with former enemies to keep even bigger businessmen from taking over.
Dir: Felix Feist
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller, Patrice Wymore
C-89 mins, TV-PG, CC,

According to Kirk Douglas in his autobiography called Ragman's Son, he agreed to play in this film for free, in order to cut things short with Warner Bros and break his contract.


11:30 AM -- Two Weeks In Another Town (1962)
A recovering alcoholic film director tries for a comeback in Rome.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Cyd Charisse
C-107 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

The old film of Kirk Douglas's character Jack that is being screened is The Bad and the Beautiful.


1:30 PM -- Town Without Pity (1962)
A military lawyer defends three soldiers accused of raping a girl in occupied Germany.
Dir: Gottfried Reinhardt
Cast: Kirk Douglas, E. G. Marshall, Christine Kaufmann
BW-103 mins, TV-14, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Dimitri Tiomkin (music) and Ned Washington (lyrics) for the song "Town Without Pity"

Mal Sondock, who played the defendant "Private Joey Haines" was a Texas-born American expatriate who was a disc jockey with AFN while serving with the US Army in Germany. After his enlistment ended in the late 1950s, Sondock stayed in Europe and became famous as a master of ceremonies and radio host at Westdeuscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. He hosted a very popular American music show on WDR, "Mal Sondock's Hit-Parade". His American-accented German endeared him to his vast audience. He passed away from a long illness in Cologne in 2009, aged 75.


3:30 PM -- The Hook (1963)
Three soldiers in Korea go through inner torment when they're ordered to execute an enemy soldier.
Dir: George Seaton
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Robert Walker Jr., Nick Adams
BW-98 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel L'Hamecon by Vahé Katcha.


5:30 PM -- The Way West (1967)
A senator hires a veteran scout to accompany a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon.
Dir: Andrew V. McLaglen
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark
BW-122 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Lola Albright nearly drowned during the river crossing scene. The wagon she was in tipped over and she was trapped underwater when the contents of the wagon fell on her and pinned her down. When they finally got her out she was semi-conscious and spent the night in hospital. A day later she returned to the set, but they used a stunt woman to re-film the river scene. In interviews she has said she was deeply traumatized by this near-death experience.


7:45 PM -- Carson on TCM: Kirk Douglas (8/31/88) (2013)
TCM presents a classic interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
C-10 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Douglas helped break the Hollywood blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo, a member of the "Hollywood Ten", to write the screenplay. Despite widespread criticism from many in the industry, including John Wayne and Hedda Hopper, Douglas refused to back down and Trumbo received a screen credit under his own name. When presenting Douglas with an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at The 68th Annual Academy Awards (1996) (TV), Steven Spielberg thanked Douglas for his courage.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: KIRK DOUGLAS



8:00 PM -- Paths Of Glory (1957)
A military lawyer comes to question the status quo when he defends three men accused of cowardice.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Fred Bell, John Stein, Harold Benedict
BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Stanley Kubrick approached Kirk Douglas with the script. Douglas instantly fell in love with it, telling Kubrick "Stanley, I don't think this picture will ever make a nickel, but we have to make it." Douglas's words proved to be quite prophetic - the film was not a success at the box office.


9:45 PM -- Act of Love (1953)
An American soldier romances a beautiful Parisian during the final days of World War II.
Dir: Anatole Litvak
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dany Robin, Barbara Laage
BW-106 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Kirk Douglas met his German wife-to-be, Anne Douglas, when she applied for a job as his assistant on the French location shoot for this film.


11:45 PM -- Lust For Life (1956)
Passionate biography of painter Vincent van Gogh, whose genius drove him mad.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald
C-122 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Anthony Quinn

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kirk Douglas, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters, E. Preston Ames, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, and Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted -- Norman Corwin

Parts of the film were shot in Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent van Gogh lived and died. Kirk Douglas had his hair cut specially in the style of the artist and had it dyed to a similar reddish tint. This was enough to make some of the older inhabitants of the town believe that Van Gogh had returned.


2:00 AM -- The Big Sky (1952)
Trappers lead an expedition against river pirates and Indians along the Missouri River.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt
BW-138 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Hunnicutt, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Russell Harlan

While shooting Red River, there was a scene that director Howard Hawks unsuccessfully urged John Wayne to do. It involved his getting a finger mangled between a saddle horn and a rope, resulting in Walter Brennan's amputating it. Hawks reportedly told Wayne, "If you're not good enough, we won't do it", but Wayne wouldn't do it. According to Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy, Hawks did get Kirk Douglas to do that scene in this film, and it came off so funny that Wayne later declared to Hawks, "If you tell me a funeral is funny, I'll do a funeral."


4:30 AM -- Along the Great Divide (1951)
A U.S. Marshall tries to get a rustler to trial before a vengeful rancher can kill him.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar
BW-88 mins, TV-14, CC

Morris Ankrum played Ed Roden in this movie and the remake, the 1956 Cheyenne television series episode "The Travelers".